Hi you guys!!


I am very curious about the different ways to add shadows to a picture. I am trying to imitate or at least copy some of what "I think" people use here to add thickness to shadows without making look to unnatural...

I have seen the way people work on adding light to make a picture look brighter or to bring more detail out of it though in this case I just want to learn how to add shadows around objects to make it seem as though the picture was shot with a filter... I am no photographer so I guess I just have to practice with Photoshop for this.

How can I add shadows to the shadows or in this case create shadows where there is bright light? Any suggestions?



oh! I have copied some pictures of the challenges to this thread so you see what it is that I want to achieve.

The first one is brighter (so you see more detail) and the second one has shadow added around the face (and this is what I want to achieve.)

Like I said before, I am not sure how people do it and I would like to see if there is a better or at least different ways to approach it. I have seen this technique used in movie film posters a lot so I decided to kill my curiosity about it.

Take care!

Quick one here.

Copied to new layer.
Desaturated new layer.
Set blend mode to Soft Light.
Adjust levels by taking white slider on Output and moving it over to the left. (Eliminates highlights).
Adjust layer opacity to get amount of shadow desired.

Hey Gary!

Thank you very much for the info.

I tried and used your info. It works wonderfully but a question popped up while I was working on my images.

What if the image is tooo bright to apply this technique?

I worked on a regular image that was somehow dark but then I tried in a bright image and I had to do it several times to get to the desired result. I realized that I had to merge the result and do it again.


Well, I am sure there are different ways of doing it. I hope someone else can post another way to do it though it seems that this is a very simple thread nobody is interested on it.

If you have any more info Gary, feel free to correct or comment on what I have posted here. Also, I have been browsing in my photoshop books but I can't find anything related to this specific situation....

would you happen to know were I can learn some more on this?

Thank you!

Just read your post, its 1.00 am here, so its gonna have to be tomorrow till I can give this any thought, will get back to you ASAP.

What if the image is tooo bright to apply this technique?

Got an example of an image you're having problems with, I'm a bit short on overbright images, and I'm a bit tight with time at the moment to go looking for any.

Don't have any links as such. Like you I haven't seen too much on this topic, I'll be sure to post any I find.

I tend to come across most things by accident rather than by concerted searching (which I'm hopeless at), or by experimenting when I've got a bit of spare time (which isn't very often these days).

Hi Don....

Don't know if this is what you're aiming at but I'll post my very, very quick messy picture below:

Using the eliptical marquee I drew an oval around Amber's face

Select > Feather > 30, OK

Select > Inverse

Now, at bottom of Layers palette I: Clicked on Icon for Create New Fill or Adj. Layer > Curves

When curves dialog box comes up, pull down on the diagonal line until you see your desired darkness, click OK

That's it....... again..... this was very fast........ also, instead of all this you might just try Ctrl + J and on that layer go Filters > Render > Lighting Effects and choose Flashlight.......

These may be something for you to play around with......

Beth

Hey Don...... since you mentioned something for brighter pictures here's a brighter before and after using the Filter > Render > Lighting Effects > Flashlight....

Beth

For intensifying shadows, even on lighter pictures, duplicate to new layer, select blending mode to multiply and mask. Paint areas to be darkened accordingly, varying opacity of brush to taste. Can use on multi levels of multiply, ie, consecutive layers set to multiply with new mask on each.

Photoshop: if you are trying to multiply a white point it is like 0 x 0 =0

Simple approach for (at least) dark colored backgrounds

Duplicated background 3 times.

Bottom 2 set to multiply @ 75% fill and opacity
top layer set to soft light at 100% fill and opacity.

Added a Hue/Saturation layer to reduce the red saturation

Had a play with Beth's picture (hope that's OK).

Copied to new layer, set blend mode to multiply. Adjusted contrast a little.
Then just applied method from my first post.

the simplest way i know is to just use the 'illumination' tool in Paint Shop Pro. this can re-light the entire image all in one go, including shadows and hightlights. i also know there are entire programs for re-lighting, though i cant think of one right off hand.

you could also combine beth's method with mine so that you only re-lit her inverted selection. i think that would work very well.

craig

Hey Gary...... of course it's OK...... I love seeing my baby girl and liked the outcome, too.....

I guess I was going for the spotlight look because of this sentence in Don's post:
The first one is brighter (so you see more detail) and the second one has shadow added around the face (and this is what I want to achieve.)

Craig....... now I'm going to have to try what you've mentioned because it sounds interesting........

Beth

Hi you guys!

Before I fill this space out of what I learned, I want to thank you all for your valuable time to help me. I do appreciate it!

Ok, so This is what I tried to do...

I read all the info you guys have given me and I decided to try one of each just to see.

Though the picture I chose is not a great photo I decided to work on an original posted in the challenges --since I don't have one at hand--!

1. At first I tried to Oval Circle that SOLITEAR mentioned I liked that the dark areas are defined by the blurring but I was not sure it was the right way.
With this approach I noticed that the dark areas around the face are all "Similar." I wanted the dark areas to fall or at least follow the darkest areas around the subject, in this case the face. Beth I liked the pic on your post [The face has dark areas around it so when you add what you did the darkness falls nicely on them, again inhancing or making believe natural light source]

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachments/photo-compositing/38190-adding-shadows-technique-amberlite.jpg

----Maybe I just did do it right the way I did it!!


2. Then, I tried the "Spot light" that SOLITEAR mentioned as well but I noticed that with this one I could work on blurring just the light. Though I know that it can be done with a 50% fill layer with gray, I did not tried it because still light on the bright areas. As you can see in the image some areas are sharper than others.

3. I decided to work on what GARY had posted, though the result he did was amazing, it was not what I was looking for. SOLITEAR was right on her last thread. "I wanted only the approach of dark around the face"... I am still trying to figure out if there is a name for this kind of approach! Taken from the darkest image I decided to work on the right side (the darkest) picture.



4. I tried duwayne's approach as well but if the picture is not dark as the one he worked on I had to do at least make 20 copies of the layer and blend them as "multiply" to get the result. Thank you though!

Thank you Cassidy for your post it is great though but as you can see I was looking for a dark very dark approach.

And as a result I like what I ended up doing but again I was not satisfied with the result a 100%. As you can see you can tell on the line of her chin, it looks unnatural.

-----I posted an extra image of how the shadows already on the face help but not sure it would work... what do you guys think... natural or not natural looking?!! :depressed


I also wanted to know how is this Done in real life photography... I am no photographer so I have no clue on how it is approach... maybe if I know the real name of the approach I can find more info on it.

Take care!!

Hi Don........ thought I'd give it one more shot.....

This time I opened the picture of your bright Amanda

Ctrl + J and erased everything except skin (eyes & hair but left lips)

Ctrl + J to dupe the skin layer

With bottom skin layer selected I ran a Namesuppressed softening filter on it set to Overlay and luminosity unchecked

Then selected the top skin layer and changed blend mode to Multiply and adj. opacity.

Flattened image then did the whole eliptical marquee thing to darken the area surrounding her face...... I know my colors aren't the same but it did seem to give it more moodiness...

Here are your original darkened Amber next to the results from this technique...

Beth

I think I see what you're talking about when I looked at your recent posts and the fact that you'd taken Gary's darkened facial version added with the darkened surrounding area......

So, I'm thinking you're right in being concerned that it looks unnatural...... but you're on to something with it being a combination ..... when I looked at yours without the darkened facial features it looked like my first spotlight one.... bright face, dark oval....... and they're missing that moody quality.....

I used the Namesuppressed filter on the skin areas because it smoothed out those highlights I was too lazy to work on otherwise.... I looked at the original post of the darkened Amber, as I'm sure you did, and wouldn't you know it ......... no details ...... rats !!!!

Beth

this sort of what you're looking for?

dupe bg
illumination
adjustment layer of brightness/contrast
illumination

done.

this is a very simple way to do this and has endless, easy to do variations. the adjustment layer was put in to darken the image, since illumination tends to only want to brighten.

craig

Hi Kraellin and solitear!

:bow: Thank you very much for your time to work on this.

You were right solitear... what I am looking for is being able to have the face surrounded by darkness as though the real person was taken with a spot light but in this case I want the dark shadows fall only on the contours of the face just as you did on your post without oversaturating it with color.

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachments/photo-compositing/38256-adding-shadows-technique-amberagain.jpg

I will practice that one for sure!

As for the approach of Kraellin, the spotlight is perfect but again it does not follow the lines around the face so in this case you only get a rounded highlight of it... :bow: thank you though

I have found some movie posters that I think use this technique of light very well... --THIS is the technique I want to accomplish--... I also know that this pics were probably taking again black bakground but who knows!!

Check it out!

http://www.sfondideldesktop.com/Images-Movies/Million-Dollar-Baby/Million-Dollar-Baby-0001/Million-Dollar-Baby-0001.jpg

Again, I am no photographer so IS THIS ACCOMPLISH WITH A FEW LIGHTS in PHOTOGRAPHY? As you can see the light it is right on the outlines on some of the faces... --check Mister Eastwood's face on the lines produced by his features! Very dimensional!!

This also brings another question: CAN CANDLE LIGHT BE RECREATED AS IN THE PICTURE Of "The Others"?

They probably used good lights when shotting the movie but in my case I have to have a good eye to accomplish the lighting of the face as well as the balance of the shadows.



I will continue to explore new ways and experiment more with this see if I can accomplish it without the real picture being in the dark already.

donamai,

interesting. you might want to take a look at displacement maps. you could make a mask and wrap it to the contours like you're after and then apply your lighting.

craig

I didn't read every word in this thread, but how about a simple masked curve layer? Just imagine where the light might be coming from draw along the contours of the person's face and clothes kind of like the light might look.

Here's my kid slurping spaghetti while camping and I've transformed him into the slurpinator! :ditsy:

I just used a polygonal lasso and clicked along his face. Then featherd the selection and put it as the mask for a darkening curve layer (layer pallette and curve dialog attached). Used a smudge brush to smear out the mask more on his forehead and a stippled smudge brush on the top of the hood. Magnetic lasso along the left edge of his coat.

Anybody with half-way decent artistic abilities and spending a little time (this was about 10 minutes worth) should be able to get the mask looking good. Or, if you're like me (poor artistic abilities), google some examples to use as models.

Also included the original.

Bart

what if the image too bright? check first the info if its 0 channels already if not, make new layer "control j" and go to image/adjustment/shadows and highlights.. play with the scroll bar on the second row... mask some part of that image so the original file below would show.

Hi again!

I wanted to try some of the things I have read hear. Somehow I have not comprehended much about how to get the right technique but hey! we are here to try, right!!!

I wanted to post the following image that I downloaded from Katrin's website.

I try different ways to improve or even get close to the effect on Clink Eastwood face.

Please post your critique here and I will try to work on it a little more.

The problems I encountered here were:

1. The lighest areas are lacking detail or color so I think it is just plain white in those spots... a little bit of color would help there.

2. Some of the darkest areas around the yes were hard to balance as in the color of the face. This spots have color values darker but I could not, for some reason, get them cleared.

3. The light source is only one on the left side of picture. i wanted to add little or more light sources around it too.

I am placing the first and second attempt as well as the effect I am trying to accomplish.

Take care!!